The Technomancer

The Technomancer, a 2016 Action RPG, presents a demanding workload that scales significantly with both resolution and graphical presets. This analysis examines the performance of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER across a range of settings. The data reveals a configuration that is capable of smooth gameplay at 1080p and 1440p, but which encounters predictable limitations at 4K, particularly under maximum graphical loads.

Settings Recommendations

The measured frame rates indicate that the optimal experience balances visual fidelity with smooth gameplay. At 1920x1080, the High preset delivers an average of 93 FPS, which is a strong result for a game of this era. While the Low preset achieves a much higher 142 FPS, the jump from Low to High only costs 49 FPS, yet provides a substantial improvement in visual quality. The Ultra preset at 1080p, with an average of 73 FPS, is still playable, but the 20 FPS drop from High is a significant trade-off for the marginal visual gains typically offered by Ultra settings.

Moving to 2560x1440, the High preset maintains a solid 61 FPS average. This is the sweet spot for this resolution, as it stays above the critical 60 FPS threshold. The Medium preset offers a higher 71 FPS, providing extra headroom for less demanding scenes, but the High preset is the better choice for a consistent experience. The Ultra preset at 1440p drops to 48 FPS, which falls below the ideal smoothness threshold and is not recommended for action-oriented gameplay.

At 3840x2160, the situation changes dramatically. No preset achieves the 60 FPS target. The Low preset averages 51 FPS, which is the only playable option at this resolution, though it requires a significant sacrifice in visual detail. The High preset averages 34 FPS, and Ultra drops to 26 FPS, making both feel sluggish. Therefore, the best experience for this combination is the High preset at 2560x1440, which provides a great balance of visual quality and performance. For those prioritizing frame rate above all else, the Low preset at 1920x1080 is the only option that pushes into very high frame rate territory.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, based on the Turing architecture, is the primary driver of frame rates in this configuration. Its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus provides a memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, which is a critical factor for the high-resolution textures and effects in The Technomancer. The card’s boost clock of 1650 MHz and 2176 shading units allow it to process the game's geometry and lighting effectively, but the data shows that its capabilities are finite.

Benchmark results place this GPU in the 62nd percentile of all tested GPUs, indicating it is a mid-range performer. Its average benchmark score of 18093 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, which sits just 0.4% higher. This positional context is useful, as it shows the RTX 2060 SUPER is a capable, but not top-tier, graphics solution.

The performance scaling across resolutions confirms this. At 1920x1080, the GPU has ample resources to handle the workload, resulting in high frame rates. As resolution increases to 2560x1440 and then 3840x2160, the pixel count rises exponentially, placing a heavier burden on the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth. The frame rate drops from 93 FPS at 1080p High to 61 FPS at 1440p High and then to 34 FPS at 4K High. This steep decline is a clear indicator that the RTX 2060 SUPER is the limiting component in this pairing, as its processing power cannot keep pace with the increasing rendering demands. The 8 GB VRAM buffer may also be a constraint at 4K, but the consistent FPS drop across all presets suggests that raw computational throughput is the primary bottleneck.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 serves as the central processor, and its role in this game is to feed the GPU with draw calls and manage game logic. This processor is a high-end desktop part, featuring 20 cores and 20 threads. Its architecture, Arrow Lake, is built on a 3 nm process node and supports a boost clock of 5.30 GHz. This combination of high core count and high clock speed is excellent for modern workloads.

Its benchmark scores are robust, placing it in the 93rd percentile of all CPUs. In multi-threaded tests like Cinebench R23, it scores 42216, and in single-threaded tests, it scores 5960. This indicates a very strong processor. However, The Technomancer is a title from 2016, and its engine is unlikely to be optimized for the 20 threads this CPU offers. The game likely relies more on the performance of a few cores rather than scaling across many.

The data supports this theory. The frame rate differences between the 1080p Low and 1080p High presets (142 vs 93 FPS) are entirely due to GPU load, as the CPU is not being stressed. More tellingly, the performance at 1440p and 4K does not improve relative to 1080p in a way that would indicate a CPU bottleneck. If the CPU were the limiting factor, we would expect to see similar frame rates across resolutions, as the CPU work would stay constant. Instead, frame rates drop significantly as resolution increases, which is the classic signature of a GPU-bound scenario. The Core Ultra 7 265 is therefore more than sufficient for this game, providing a large performance headroom that ensures it never becomes the limiting factor, even at high frame rates and lower resolutions.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and preset combination for a consistent 60+ FPS experience?

A: The data shows that the High preset at 2560x1440, with an average of 61 FPS, is the most demanding configuration that consistently stays above the 60 FPS target. At 1920x1080, the High preset achieves 93 FPS, providing a significant margin above the target.

Q: Can this configuration handle 4K gaming in The Technomancer?

A: No preset at 3840x2160 reaches the 60 FPS target. The most playable option is the Low preset, which averages 51 FPS. Higher presets at 4K fall below 40 FPS, which is not ideal for an action RPG.

Q: How does the RTX 2060 SUPER compare to its closest rivals?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18093, which is within 1.6% of its nearest rivals. It is 0.4% slower than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile and 1.5% slower than the AMD Radeon RX 460, indicating a tightly contested performance tier.

Q: Is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 a bottleneck for the RTX 2060 SUPER?

A: No, the data indicates the system is GPU-bound. As resolution increases from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160, the average FPS at the High preset drops from 93 to 34. This significant decline demonstrates that the GPU's rendering limits are being reached, while the CPU has performance to spare.

Q: What is the performance difference between the Low and Ultra presets at 1920x1080?

A: The Low preset averages 142 FPS, while the Ultra preset averages 73 FPS. This represents a 69 FPS difference (a 48.6% reduction) in average frame rate for the maximum visual settings.

Q: What are the minimum and maximum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 2560x1440?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 has a minimum FPS of 61 and a maximum FPS of 82, with an average of 71 FPS. This shows a 21 FPS variance, indicating some frame pacing fluctuations during the test.

Resolution Scaling

The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is the most telling metric for understanding this system's behavior. At the High preset, the average frame rate drops from 93 FPS at 1920x1080 to 61 FPS at 2560x1440, a reduction of 32 FPS. Moving further up to 3840x2160, the frame rate falls to 34 FPS, a further 27 FPS reduction. This pattern shows that the cost of each resolution step is nearly linear, highlighting the GPU's struggle to maintain throughput as pixel count increases.

This scaling is a clear indicator of a GPU-bound system. If the CPU were the limiting factor, the frame rate would remain relatively flat across resolutions, as the CPU's workload (game logic, physics, draw calls) remains constant. Instead, the frame rate is inversely proportional to the resolution, which is the definitive sign that the RTX 2060 SUPER's rendering capabilities are the primary constraint.

The scaling is also consistent across other presets. At Low settings, the frame rate goes from 142 FPS at 1080p to 93 FPS at 1440p and then to 51 FPS at 4K. At Ultra, it drops from 73 FPS to 48 FPS to 26 FPS. In all cases, the 4K performance is less than half of the 1080p performance, confirming that the higher resolution imposes a massive additional workload on the GPU that the CPU cannot alleviate. This makes the Core Ultra 7 265 an excellent match that provides no performance ceiling of its own.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following data represents the complete set of measured average frame rates for this configuration.

At 1920x1080, the Low preset achieves an average of 142 FPS. The Medium preset averages 109 FPS, with a minimum of 93 FPS and a maximum of 126 FPS. The High preset delivers 93 FPS on average. The Ultra preset completes the 1080p results with an average of 73 FPS.

At 2560x1440, the Low preset averages 93 FPS. The Medium preset averages 71 FPS, with a minimum of 61 FPS and a maximum of 82 FPS. The High preset averages 61 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 48 FPS.

At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 51 FPS. The Medium preset averages 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and a maximum of 45 FPS. The High preset averages 34 FPS. The Ultra preset averages 26 FPS.

These numbers illustrate a consistent progression. For every preset, the average FPS decreases as resolution increases. The gap between the Low and Ultra presets also remains substantial across all resolutions, underscoring the significant performance cost of maximum visual settings.

How This Combo Ranks

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER combination is ranked 2001st out of 2825 tested combinations for The Technomancer. This places it in the lower-middle portion of the performance spectrum, which is a somewhat surprising result given the individual capabilities of the components.

The CPU is a top-tier processor, ranking in the 93rd percentile, and the GPU is a solid mid-range card in the 62nd percentile. However, the combined rank of 2001 suggests that for this specific game, the pairing is not as effective as its individual components might imply. This is likely because the game's engine is older and may not fully utilize the modern CPU's architecture, while the GPU, despite its capabilities, struggles with the game's rendering demands at higher resolutions.

In the context of all tested combos, this configuration is clearly better suited for 1080p and 1440p gaming. The data shows it can handle these resolutions well, but it falls behind on the 4K leaderboard. The rank of 2001 reflects this reality, positioning it as a competent but not exceptional performer for The Technomancer. The system's performance is ultimately dictated by the GPU's limits, and while the CPU provides a strong foundation, it cannot boost the combination to a higher ranking in this title.